AN: I'm guilty of so many things, and right now, one of them involves slacking on updating this. no more! Thank to all who reviewed, and reminded me it had been a while! ;)

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing, I'm just having some fun with Richelle's world.

"So, wait, let me see if I got this straight - you want to barge into the human world with a huge entourage to bring back two kids?" I asked, not even trying to hide the annoyance in my voice now.

Dorian looked at me, eyes wary. "Yes, why?"

I shook my head. "I will not be responsible for taking so many gentry into the human world. If anyone goes at all, it will be Rurik, and only him."

"Rurik alone cannot protect you and -"

"I can protect myself and my children just fine, thanks."

"Then at least let me go with you," he insisted. We'd been at this for hours already, and weren't anywhere closer to finding an option that pleased everyone.

"Absolutely not," Shaya spoke up. "One of you two has to stay here, and Eugenie insists on going…"

"What if I insist too?" Dorian pressed.

Three pairs of eyes turned to him, trying to gauge how serious he was. I hoped to hell he was bluffing.

"I can handle cars, trains and airplanes, Dorian. None of you gentry can do that. And I still don't want to just drop into the town unannounced; it might draw unnecessary attention to the family that is taking care of the twins. They've been so good to me, I really didn't want to do that to them."

"You will not go alone, Eugenie," Dorian stated, finality ringing in his tone.

"Fine," I grumbled. "But if you say I should take Kyio with me again, I'm doing this my way."

Shaya and Rurik chuckled, and quickly turned their laughs into coughs when Dorian gave them a hard stare. "Very funny, Eugenie," he muttered. "But I learned my lesson the first time, I think."

I repressed a smile at his disgruntled look. "You reap what you sow," I crooned, and his frown deepened. "How about I take Jasmine with me? She's been dying to see her little niece and nephew."

Dorian nodded reluctantly. "Take her, and Rurik, Shaya and I will be waiting on the other side of the passage closest to the town."

Roland wasn't happy with my decision to take the twins back to the Otherworld, but relented pretty fast when I explained to him about the potential problem that their powers might present, and got me the plane tickets I'd need. Before I flew over to get them, I stopped for one night in Tucson to reload on weapons, and have a quick chat with Lara and Tim.

After Roland dropped me off in front of my house, making me feel like a teen all over again, I walked in, a little weary of what I'd find. I'd been spending more and more time in the Otherworld lately, and Tim and Lara had, understandably, kind of taken over the house. Which was what I wanted to talk about with them, anyway. But last time I'd been here, I'd found plenty of incriminating evidence of their romantic escapades, and the last thing I wanted was to actually walk in one of them now.

"Hello?" I asked, walking in with caution, and peeking around. Tim was standing behind the stove in only his jeans. I breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn't in his birthday suit as he turned around at the sound of my voice.

"Eug? Oh my god, Eug!" he exclaimed, a huge smile on his face. "What are you doing here?"

I shot him a dry look. "I know I'm not here that much, but it is still my house, you know."

He didn't even look phased, and shrugged, turning back to the stove. "Yeah, whatever. Did you fight with your boyfriend?"

"Who says I have a boyfriend?" I asked, amused.

"Yeah, right. You think I forgot Kyio?"

"Oh. Him."

He turned back to look at me, frowning. "That didn't sound too good for him."

I grinned. "I wish. It's not that simple."

"When's love ever simple?"

"True," I conceded. "But that's not why I'm here."

"See? I knew you had to be here for a reason. You never come just because you missed me, I've noticed."

"How could I not miss your fabulous cooking, Tim?"

"Is that all I ever was for you? I thought what we had was magical, honey."

I rolled my eyes at his theatrics, and just then Lara walked into the kitchen. "What you had with who was magical, Tim?" she asked, her eyes narrowed.

He held his hands up in surrender.

"Hey, Lara," I called to her from my seat on one of the chairs against the far wall of the kitchen, where she hadn't seen me yet, so focused on her boyfriend.

"Oh my god, Eugenie!" she squealed, and ran to hug me. I just had time to stand up before she barrelled into me.

"It's great to see you too, Lara."

"Was this who you were talking to, Tim?" she asked once she let me go.

I chuckled. "Yeah. You don't have to worry about him."

Lara blushed. "What are doing here, Eugenie?" she asked.

"Geez," I muttered. "If I hadn't seen your faces when you saw me, I'd think you weren't happy I'm home."

Both of them looked guilty, and started stammering. Tim shook his head. "It's just that lately, you're never home, and when you are, it's because some serious shit is going down. We're just worried about you, Eug."

I smiled at him. "Don't worry. I want to talk to both of you. Shall we?" I asked, motioning to the living room. Tim turned the stove off, and the two followed me into my living room.

"What's wrong?" Lara asked me. She knew better even than Tim what kind of trouble I could get into - she'd worked for me for years, scheduling my jobs as shaman, and knew secondhand what could happen when the supernatural was involved. Of course, she didn't know I as half supernatural myself.

"Nothing, really," I said, settling myself in the couch. "I just wanted to know how you two would feel about officially renting this place from me." There was stunned silence, so I went on. "As both of you pointed out, I'm hardly ever around, so it makes no sense to keep the place. I'm here for a very short time; I leave tomorrow, and I have no idea when - or if - I'll be back anytime soon. I've gotten caught up in some things over there - nothing bad," I added hastily, seeing Lara open her mouth with a frown. "But I can't leave right now. Maybe one day, but I doubt..." I doubted Dorian would ever allow our children to leave his sight, and they were certainly never leaving mine, but I didn't say that. I shrugged. "So I thought, since you two are already living here anyway, why not make it official, right?"

They looked at each other for a second, some sort of silent communication flowing through that look, and then they turned to look back at me. "We'd love it, Eug," Tim said.

I smiled at them. "Great! I'll let Roland know, and he can sort out the paperwork with you two."

"You might have to sign some papers, you know."

I shrugged. "That can be arranged. I'm sure Roland can take them to me in the Otherworld."

Lara's eyes grew huge. "You're really moving... there?"

I smiled softly. "Yeah. I think I was fooling myself thinking I'd be able to split my time between both worlds."

"So you chose that one over this one."

I hesitated. That almost sounded like an accusation. "No, not really..." I sighed. "It's complicated, but it's more like the Otherworld chose me. I have ties there that I can't break."

They seemed to accept that answer, though I could see they were still worried about me, and probably a little disappointed in my new choice of home, but I wouldn't tell them anymore; if anyone came here looking for the Thorn Queen, neither would know who that was, and that would keep them safe, which was all I really wanted them to be.

I slept for what would probably be the last time in my bed, then left the next morning. As I stepped out of the house at sunrise, the air was charged with static, and Jasmine appeared out of thin air in front of me.

My sister's eyes found me, as I took in her dishevelled look and wild eyes. "What happened?"

"Maiwenn," she gasped for air, leaning heavily against me. "Her guard followed me out of the castle. Rurik and your guard held them back while I crossed over." I swore loudly, and she raised her eyebrows at me. "I sure hope you don't use that sort of language around the twins," she told me slyly.

I shot her a murderous glare, but she just smirked at me. "Come on, let's go before Maiwenn follows us back here too."

"Relax, Eugenie. None of her men can get on a plane without dying."

I fixed her with a stared. "None but Kiyo," I said softly, walking to my car as Jasmine paled and hurried to follow me.

NA: So! There you go.. hope you liked it. Things are starting to pick up now, and I promise update more often ;)

Thanks for reviewing and following! Till the next one.